She lowered her voice. “It doesn’t matter. I am not being fair." Another circle against her temple, but the pounding persisted. "Should you not be in the Companions' Hall?”
“I won’t go,” he said. Sharp. Sure.
Auryn tilted her head. “Won’t go? It is mandate for the Resh’Agar to consummate his Reckoning with the Companions.”
“They can wait.”
“For what?” she asked, confused. Off kilter.
Kailorien? Neglecting Doctrine? She couldn’t fathom it. Couldn’t comprehend it. She tried to back away, but he caught her wrist.
She lost herself within his gaze, and suddenly time accelerated as though someone loosed its bindings. His aura overwhelmed her. Hot. Hazy. Longing. Now that he was so close, the Bond flared to life between them. Like stone shattering glass, it burst through all of her fear, her defenses, her caution.
He was here now. He’d returned. Sunkissed, dusty, and unharmed, smelling of travel and adventure, andfreedom. He hadn’t gone to the Companions, to feasting, or to bathe in Lustrals. He’d come straighthere.Had somehow known where she would be.
Not somehow.
It is the Bond.
It has not abandoned us.
It lives. It breathes.
Her fingers loosened, and all her hesitation slipped between them, giving way to raw, unfiltered adoration.
You have not forgotten me,she thought before she could stop herself.You found me.
A thought in the Bond, one they both could hear.
Forgive me,he answered through that sacred link.I beg you, starlight…
You bled for me, Kailorien…
I forgot you. Forgot us. Left without saying goodbye. And for years before that, tried to distance myself thinking I was—
The Void must be impartial. You were doing what you had to in order to—
Make no excuses for me, Auryn. None. I will not hear of them.
Kailorien didn’t mean to pull her closer. Truly—he meant only to hold that moment. To commit her to memory again before she turned away, before duty and distance reclaimed them both. But her pain ground like salt into his wounds. And without thinking, his hand slid from her wrist to her waist. His other rose to her cheek, fingers threading into silver hair.
“Look at me,” he rasped, tugging her forward. Into his body heat. Into his scent. Into the Bond.
Her eyes lifted. Wide. Surprised.
Beautiful endless stars swirling within.
A rose blush flushed her cheeks.
The tether between them surged.
Pulsing. Flaring.
Through it, her voice broke through again.
Kail…Kail…my Kail…
Hearing his name—one he remembered only as she spoke it now—pressed like a weight against his chest. But not a burden. No—relief.A pressure rupturing as longing and regret flooded into him.
